Finishing treatment for felt and felt hat bodies



Patented Dec. 28, 1943 4 FINISHING TREATMENT FOR FELT AND FELT HAT BODIES Egon Loewy, New York, N. Y., now by judicial change of name Egon Loy, assignor to Loy Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 8, 1941, Serial No. 387,380

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of treating the surface of felt by the piece or the like from animal or vegetable fibres and more particularly the surface of felt hat bodies, which are made from hair, wool, or the like.

. It is an object of the present invention to chemically prepare such felt (piece or article) and to then subject the same to a mechanical treatment during which said felt under treatment is moved in a predetermined manner and direction relatively to mechanical means.

Another object of the present invent on is to provide means for imparting to the felt or felt hat body, while the same is being moved in a prescribed manner, a desired finishing treatment.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a very economical, pract cal and efiicient method for producing finishing efiects on felt hat bodies by employment of mechanical means which cooperate with the hat bodies at various positionings thereof relatively to said means.

A still further object of thepresent invention resides in the provision of sharkskin working surface or surfaces with which the work piece (felt r hat body) under treatment may be brought into engagement while said surface or surfaces and said work piece are being moved in predetermined d rections.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following disclosure thereof together with the attached draw ing which illustrates certain forms of embodiment of said invention. The said forms are shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention since the same has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, although it is to be understood that the various steps of which the invention consists, can be variously arranged and organized, and that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization of the instrumentalities as herein shown and described.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a hat body to be worked upon by a method according to the invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate diagrammatically steps in the method and the positioning of the hat body relatively to the hat surface treating means with their respective sharkskin coverings arranged to be rotated inv different directions.

Figs. 4 to 6 show graphically stages of various surface treatments performed according to the invention.

Fig. 7 shows a fragment of a sharkskin covering employed in the invention.

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view of said covering taken along line 88 of Fig.7.

In order to explain and describe the present invention in greater detail, as an example the treating and preparing of a felt hat body for and the finishing operation itself will now be set forth.

To this end, the hat body is first subjected to a chemical bath containing a suitable dye or dyes and to which bath are added one half of one percent of a cleaning substance of sulphuric ester, such as, for example known in the trade as Duponol WA fiakes and further successively up to ten percent (10%) of the weight of the hat bodies to be treated in said bath, a strong acid having swelling producing qualities, such as sulphuric acid (H2SO4) After the dyeing operation the bodies are stretched and then given a further treatment in a chemical bath containing an aqueous solution of an acid having swelling properties, such as for example sulphuric acid and a m xture of a cleansing substance, such as Duponol with a vegetable or plant oil, such as olive oil. It is well understood that the constituents of said bath are selected in sufiicient quantities so as to assure a homogeneous bath of desired strength. For example, a solution containing 16 gallons of chem cally pure water, 300 ccm. sulphuric acid and 30 com. of a mixture of Duponol with said aforementioned olive oil may be used. Such bath may be increased in strength up to about four times the aforesaid example, depending particularly on the quality of the felt material.

The latter bath is preferably heated up to approximately 160 to 190 F. and the hat bodies are then dipped into said bath in, say, dozen lots until they are completely soaked with said bath liquid. The hat bodies are then withdrawn from the bath, extracted and thereafter air dried.

Before the hat bodies are finally subjected to the finishing treatment, they are pounced, for instance, with pouncing paper ins de and outside, but to a greater degree inside than outside. The hat bodies are then covered with a flannel cloth which is previously moistened with hot water of about to F. and in this moistened medium and condition the hat bodies are left for several hours. This moistening step aids in the withdrawal of fibres from the felt material in the following operations:

In order to give the hat body the desired finish there are preferably employed a pair of rotatable devices 2|, 2i each of which may comprise a leverage arrangement 22, 2211, respectively, mounted on a base B and carrying a holder or support 26 for a hat body tube treated. which support may be swung against disc .I and disc 2, respectively. Each disc is respectively mounted for instance, on different axes 23, 23a, whichare rotatably driven in the direction of the arrows by any suitable means. The surfaces of disc I and 2 are covered with different types of sharkslrin, one type of which 21 is exemplified in Figs. '1 and 8. Disc 2 is covered with a relatively fine ground or dog sharkskin. Sharkskin covering 21 comprises hook-shaped projections 24, 24a, 24b, 210, etc.; sharkskin covering 18 is similarly formed with projections. The hat body 25 is subjected to treatment by the sharkskin surfaces with and/or against the nap of the hat body and with and/or against the direction of the teeth-like projections of the respective sharkskin coverinxs.

For this purpose, the hat body is manually moved in an arcuate path, as indicated for example by IflIa or II-I In in Fig. 1 relatively to rotating disc I or 2, as the case may be.

The following operations may be performed for each disc successively or otherwise:

(1) Moving the hat body from the brim towards the crown (clockwise) in the opposite direction as the disc is rotating (counterclockwise), in which case both disc and hat body at the points of intersection will move in same directions.

(2) Moving the hat body from the crown to wards the brim (clockwise) in the opposite direction as the disc is rotating. in which case both disc and hat body at the points of intersection will move in same directions.

(3) Moving the hat body from the brim toward the crown (counterclockwise) in the opposite direction as the disc is rotating, in which case both the disc and hat body at the points of intersection will move in opposite directions.

(4) Moving the hat body from the crown toward the brim (counterclockwise) in the opposite direction as disc is rotating, in which case both the disc and hat body at the points of intersection will move in opposite directions.

It has been found that disc I which carries the rough sharkskin surface should rotate at the rate of between about 800 to 1500 revolutions per minute, whereas disc 2 carrying the fine sharkskin covering should rotate at the rate of between about 3000 to 4000 revolutions per minute. The grain or projections of the sharkskin on disc I are arranged to be presented to the hat body when disc I is rotating, in a direction indicated by D1, i. e., against said projections to bring about loosening or extraction of hairs or fibres out of the hat body under treatment. Arrow Dz indicates the direction of rotation of disc 2, carrying the fine sharkskin covering. the latter being disposed on the disc 2 whereby the projections are arranged in a direction away from the hat body under treatment. This disc covering arrangement provides for the polishing step during the finishing operations.

Fig. 4 shows diagrammatically the stages of the positionings and movements of the hat body under treatment relatively to the rotating discs I and 2, respectively.

To obtain a velour finish the following steps should be preferably performed, taking in consideration that in Figs. 4 to 6 indices I2, and

-4 designate movements of the hat body in clockwise direction, whereas indices 3-4 and I4 designate movements of the hat body in counter-clockwise direction.

Consequently the movement of the hat body, 5 accordingtol 'ig.4isfirstperformedondisc I from point II of the hat to II (brim to crown in clockwise direction) and then from IIa of the hat to Ila (crown to brim of the hat in clockwise direction, see Fig. 1) further on disc I from 10 P int I2 to I3 (brim to crown in coimter-clockwise direction) and then from point Ila to I20 (crown to brim in counterclockwise direction); again further on disc I and from point ll to It (brim to crown in clockwise direction) and I 5a to Ila (crown to brim in clockwise direction; then further on disc 2 and from points IE to H (brim to crown in clockwise direction) and I'la to Iia (crown to brim in clockwise direction); then following up on disc I and from point I8 to I9 (brim to crown in counter-clockwise direction); and finally on disc 2 and from points 20 to 2| (brim to crown in counter-clockwise direction) and from 2Ia to 20 (crown to brim in counter-clockwise direction). It is to be under- 5 stood that the aforementioned points In, II; Ila, Illa, etc., are positioned on the hat body and represent successively the extent (start and end, respectively) of the sweep of the path described by the hat body relatively to disc I or 2.

To complete the velours finish the conventional For the antelope finish the above steps according to the invention are followed up by conventional steps known in the art, such as pouncing, pressing. etc.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, the advantages of the process and article derived therefrom will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains; and while there has been described the principle of the process which may be considered to be the best embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the process described is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made as are within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of finishing the surface of felt bodies, such as felt hat bodies, which consists in subjecting said felt body to a chemical pretreatment in a first bath substantially containing a suitable dye, cleaning substance and swelling means, stretching said felt thereafter and introducing it into a second bath containing a warm aqueous solution of swelling means and cleaning substance with an oily ingredient, withdrawing said felt body from the second bath and drying it, and finally subjecting the dried surface of said felt body to a rotating sharkskin surface.

2. A method of finishing felt hat bodies which consists in subjecting said felt body to a bath containing a suitable dye, cleaning substance and swelling means, removing said felt body from said bath, stretching said felt body, introducing the felt body in a second bath containing an aqueous solution of swelling means and cleaning substance with an oily ingredient, withdrawing said felt body from said second bath, thereafter drying said felt body, and subjecting the surface of said pretreated felt body to a moistened medium to loosen the felt material for ensuing treatment by means of rotating sharkskin.

3. A method of treating felt bodies which consists in subjecting said felt body to a pretreatment in chemical baths, first and second respectively, said first bath containing a suitable dye, cleaning substance and swelling means, said second bath being heated to about 160 to 190 F.

and containing an aqueous solution of swelling means and cleaning substance with an oily ingredient, removing and drying said felt body, and finally subjecting said felt body to a moistening step before the felt surface is being mechanically worked upon.

4. A method of finishing felt bodies which consists in subjecting said felt body to a chemical pretreatment, placing thereafter said pretreated felt body in a moistened medium to loosen the fibers of the felt body, and finally applying to said felt body sharkskin covered rotating means to obtain a polished finish of said felt body.

EGON LOEWY. 

